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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Electra was the daughter of King Agamemnon of Argos, who sacrificed his other daughter Iphigenia for a fair wind to the Trojan War. Upon his return ten years later, he was killed with his captive concubine Cassandra by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover, who then enslaved Electra, whose only hope lay in her exiled brother Orestes. The daughter suffered range and grief; but so, too, did the mother.
'For the infant upon separation from the mother rage and grief are necessary stages on the way to autonomy. The ‘good breast’ is the love, warmth and sustenance the mother provides; the ‘bad breast’ their withdrawal. Depression arises from the fear of being left abandoned and alone. Mother and child project these feelings upon each other. The psychoanalytic work of Melanie Klein and Julia Kristeva shows that in some cases these states persist into adulthood – and into literature.
'Marguerite Duras and Nadine Gordimer see in the struggle of a subject people for self-determination the journey of a self. For Eva Figes and Helen Garner the loss of childhood recalls a Fall which must be redeemed. In the world of Jean Rhys, Janet Frame and Ania Walwicz the collapse of the self revolutionises language. Elizabeth Jolley finds mythological power in the older woman. And Susan Sontag’s melancholy aesthetic starts from a view of the self as a ‘text which must be deciphered.’ The struggle is never without hope for these distinguished novelists.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Contents indexed selectively.
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Dedication: To Graham with love.
Contents
- Helen Garner : Honour and the Recording Angel Helen Garner : A Retrospective, with Angels, single work criticism (p. 79-92; notes 192-193)
- Babies Eat Their Lace : Elizabeth Jolley and the Slaughter of Decorum, single work criticism (p. 118-136, notes 194-195)
- On a Dark Stage Struck: The Prose Poetry of Ania Walwicz, single work criticism (p. 172-182, notes 196-197)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Feminism and Australian Literature
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Modern Australian Criticism and Theory 2010; (p. 92-103) 'Susan Sheridan traces the influence and varieties of feminism and feminist critique in Australia, arguably the major influence in transforming Australian literary studies in the 1980s and 1990s.' Source: Modern Australian Criticism and Theory (2010) -
Untitled
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 22 no. 1 2005; (p. 116-117)
— Review of After Electra : Rage, Grief and Hope in Twentieth-Century Fiction 2002 multi chapter work criticism -
Things to Do with Books : Feminist Literary Criticism
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Feminist Studies , March vol. 19 no. 43 2004; (p. 125-128)
— Review of After Electra : Rage, Grief and Hope in Twentieth-Century Fiction 2002 multi chapter work criticism -
Dazzling Complexes
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 249 2003; (p. 65)
— Review of After Electra : Rage, Grief and Hope in Twentieth-Century Fiction 2002 multi chapter work criticism
-
Dazzling Complexes
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 249 2003; (p. 65)
— Review of After Electra : Rage, Grief and Hope in Twentieth-Century Fiction 2002 multi chapter work criticism -
Things to Do with Books : Feminist Literary Criticism
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Feminist Studies , March vol. 19 no. 43 2004; (p. 125-128)
— Review of After Electra : Rage, Grief and Hope in Twentieth-Century Fiction 2002 multi chapter work criticism -
Untitled
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 22 no. 1 2005; (p. 116-117)
— Review of After Electra : Rage, Grief and Hope in Twentieth-Century Fiction 2002 multi chapter work criticism -
Feminism and Australian Literature
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Modern Australian Criticism and Theory 2010; (p. 92-103) 'Susan Sheridan traces the influence and varieties of feminism and feminist critique in Australia, arguably the major influence in transforming Australian literary studies in the 1980s and 1990s.' Source: Modern Australian Criticism and Theory (2010)